South New Jersey natives 9 Dead take their moniker in tribute to (or mockery of… I have no idea which) the nine victims of a mosh pit stampede that crushed nine people to death at a Pearl Jam show in Denmark in the year 2000. Their self-titled debut album released via Comatose Music meshes elements of traditional Death/Grind with more modern Deathcore influence. Not one to out stay its welcome, this eight track opus weighs in at half an hour and is packed to the rafters with bass heavy slams, duelling squealed/growled vocals, catchy riff-age throughout and a drumming style that I’ve come to associate with deathcore despite by no means being an expert on the genre.
I found track ‘115’ to be the most interesting, with it being based around Element 115; an extremely radioactive man-made element created by a joint US/Russian team of scientists.
As previously mentioned, I’m no expert of Deathcore and in fact picked this album for review based solely on the band’s name origin. That being said it’s a decent half an hour listen though very one dimensional. An album of very little nuance, aside from the calming and poetic instrumental track ‘Andromeda’, 9 Dead’s self-titled debut is rich in chugs, gruelling vocals and catchy rhythms.
(6/10 Marksson)
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